Tuesday 16 September 2008 19.01 EDT
First published on Tuesday 16 September 2008 19.01 EDT

If excitement was palpable yesterday around Valhalla golf club then the tension was not. At least not between Nick Faldo and Paul Azinger, respective captains of the European and American teams and star-crossed partners in one of golf's more enduring enmities.

Twenty years after golf's very own Statler and Waldorf first went at each other's throats, and just a few hours after Faldo stuck the knife in once again, all was sweetness and light between the pair as the teams arrived at Valhalla for their first practice session in the run-up to Friday's open day of golf's most fiercely contested team event. "Our relationship is pretty good," insisted Azinger, "even though we live in different worlds."

The two men may live on different worlds but, clearly, they spent some time together on the same planet; a planet where Ryder Cup captains talk themselves into embarrassing situations in the cause of denying the undeniable. Infamously, Azinger was caught out earlier this summer, having made a series of derogatory remarks about Faldo in an interview describing him as "a prick". He at first claimed he had never said such a thing only to retract his denial after being confronted with a tape recording of his remarks. "I was sorry," the US captain said afterwards. "I left two separate messages apologising [to Nick]. I referred to two Nicks; the past and the present. I don't know why I said it. Let's face it he is trying to redefine himself."

For his part, Faldo was gracious about the affront. "I know what 'Zing is like. He likes to go to the edge," he said. "He got a swift education in Fleet Street."

Given the history between the two men, it would once have been hard to believe they would ever have a kind word to say about the other, far less rush to his defence. Yet Azinger was at it again yesterday, standing by his opposite number after it emerged Faldo let it slip the US captain was regretting the choice of Ray Floyd and Dave Stockton as his vice-captains. "Did he say that? I question whether he said it, and if he did say it, it is completely not true," Azinger insisted.

The US captain might have to dip into his little book of big apologies once again, especially if a tape recording emerges of Faldo's remarks. But even if it did it would not diminish the stark difference the relationship between the two men, which began when Faldo beat the American by a shot at the 1987 Open Championship ("Sorry about that old boy," was the Englishman's only comment afterwards) and reached some kind of rapprochement when the two formed a commentary team for American television during 2006.

"I don't know anybody that had a relationship with Nick 10 or 15 years ago, so I'm probably not that different from anybody else. I didn't know him very well," Azinger said yesterday. "I never heard the guy complete a sentence the first 20 years I knew him, and now his voice activation has switched on and he can't turn it off."

To the surprise of most people, including themselves, the pair proved to be a huge success on television, chiefly because Azinger was willing to inject the edginess that characterised their relationship for so long into the normally bland world of television golf coverage. Faldo was content to play the light-hearted, straight man - an acknowledgment, perhaps, that he lacked the quick-wittedness of his sparring partner but also a product of his greater self-confidence.

The Englishman has won six majors. His reputation and standing as a golfer will never be challenged. Azinger was a terrific golfer, too, winning the 1993 PGA Championship, but even he has acknowledged he has never enjoyed life in Faldo's shadow. "I've felt my accomplishments have been minimised in comparison to Nick's," he said recently. "I try to brush it off, but that's a real feeling. There's always a little something there."

What the team leaders said in the heat of the duel

1987

Faldo shoots 18 pars in the final round of the Open Championship at Muirfield to secure a one-shot win over Azinger, who bogeyed the 17th and 18th. At the presentation ceremony, Faldo's only words to the distraught American are, "Sorry about that, old boy". "I couldn't believe it," said Azinger. "I had led the entire week and I confess that it hurt a little that he wasn't more consoling."

1989

Azinger and Chip Beck are paired against Faldo and Ian Woosnam when the American feels Faldo is standing too close as Beck lines up a putt. It's a small thing, and entirely within the rules, but it annoys sensitive players, especially in matchplay situations. "I'll read my partner's putt, if you don't mind," snaps Azinger.

1993

The pair meet in the singles at the Belfry. Faldo makes a hole- in-one at the 14th to go one up, Azinger birdies the next to be level. By the time they reach the 18th the US have won the Cup. The American faces a six-foot putt to half the match and expects a concession from Faldo, which he does not get. "That would have been the gracious gesture," Azinger said. He holed it for a half.

2008

The two have reinvented their relationship, portraying themselves as grumpily affectionate chums - a golfing version of Statler and Waldorf. Many are taken in, until Azinger gives an interview in which he claims most of Faldo's contemporaries "hate" him. "Nick has tried to redefine himself. I'd say he is both who he is and who he was. Some people have bought it. Some have not.

"But if you're going to be a prick and everyone hates you, why do you think that just because you're trying to be cute and funny on air now, that the same people are all going to start to like you?"